Bespangled organ shoes, tight jeans, a (clean) vest, a retro Mohican and a touch of mascara. How different to the sober-suited, short-back-and-sides of Fernando Germani, say, or Sir George Thalben-Ball. Cameron Carpenter is a law unto himself. Not since Virgil Fox has the organ world seen such a flamboyant showman – and the touring organ on which Fox played to crowded arenas has now been completely usurped by Carpenter’s self-designed International Touring Organ. It has five manuals, a total amplifier output of 14,000 watts, 52 channels of which 12 are sub-woofers and 40 are full range speakers, and boasts five extra bass and five extra treble pedals. It packs a mighty punch, aided by a spectacular percussion section.

This is Carpenter’s debut recording on the ITO, a bizarre mish-mash of a programme which, despite the organist’s claim to the contrary, seems designed to show off the instrument rather than illuminate the music. Like a little boy in a candy store, Carpenter cannot resist the infinite number of goodies on offer. His imperceptible, innumerable lightning-quick registration changes are often bar-to-bar (try the Candide Overture, a fussy tour de force) and often produce inappropriate colouring (such as the intrusive nasal reeds in Vocalise) or sounds of saccharine vulgarity (the five Song Paraphrases).

I doubt if any organist in history has equalled Carpenter’s technique – as the DVD illustrates, four-manual double-thumbing is child’s play and certainly the sight of the ‘Minute’ Waltz played on the pedals is mind-blowing – but purely aurally these visual sleights of hands and feet have no impact. With the exception of the stylish Trio Sonata, one of only two standard-repertoire organ works here, this disc is sonically awesome, technically sui generis but musically arid.